Rather see the above links in your inbox or feed reader?
Subscribe to our Links for hand-picked items from around the web
EPMD - Crossover · by Sach O
Ready to Rock, Ready to Lead (not the actual chorus lyrics)
EPMD – Crossover
Roger – You Should be Mine
Usually when ’90s rappers got drunk and started to vent about “the industry”, the results were dour if entertaining manifestos which painted anyone with a hit record as an untrained weakling and anyone with street cred as a rap Clubber Lang. It was an effective strategy and you can make an A-list mixtape by stringing O.C’s Times Up, Jeru’s Come Clean, Gangstarr’s Mass Appeal and any number of other tracks dissing the vaguely defined skill-lacking pop rapper. In their prime, EPMD didn’t have the luxury of being bitter purists: sure they never even remotely reached the chart heights that Hammer or Vanilla Ice dominated but for a group that started out on the tiny Sleeping Bag records in an era where every rapper got screwed over, they’d managed to do extremely well for themselves. They had Gold records, a sterling lineup of protégés who’d go on to match their success and a unique production style that predicted the West Coast’s affinity for funk, granting them access to out of state markets reticent to embrace New York’s sonic shift towards jazz samples.
So when it comes to EPMD’s Crossover, it feels totally natural that their fuckasellout song would turn out to be the catchiest thing they ever put to tape. From the brilliant later-day Zapp sample to Erick and Parrish’s comical boasts to the off the block-party-in-a-scrap-yard vibe of their video, nothing about Crossover sounds bitter. Rather than throwing stones at the throne from bellow, EPMD sat comfortably on their perch making fun of out-of-touch primadonnas and their blockbuster moves. Their roughneck men-of-the-people populism wasn’t alternative enough to get them major MTV play like Public Enemy or Cypress Hill but that was sort of the point: here was a group that succeeded on its own terms without pandering to teenie boppers or angsty alternative kids. That they did it with the kind of funk track that purists would be dissing just a few years later only makes the victory sweeter.
Comments for "EPMD - Crossover"
You know what I hate – Rappers who talk about how they hate wack rappers fucking up the game but then don’t have the balls to actually name names.
It’s like the safest, most pussy move to talk about this nebulous group of pop rappers who are ruining hip hop but then not actually saying who these cats are.
And that goes the same with rappers who complain about “studio” gangsters and then not name anybody.
Fuck that shit.
— DocZeus Sep 3, 02:48 PM
Nice drop Sach. This is a great track for sure, although somewhat bizarrely EPMD have never really rocked my boat like I know they should.
The crew is kind of one of those strange anomalies for me where I respect what they did fully, but it just doesn’t get me amped like other stuff of the era.
Go figure.
— Dan Love Sep 3, 03:13 PM
That’s an interesting point about EPMD. But it hurts thinking about this now that they’ve reunited and HAVE become bitter about pop rappers and such. I saw them at RTB last year and most of the between-song talking was the stone-throwing you mention.
— quan Sep 3, 04:04 PM
song def doesn’t get enough credit for its dopeness. just inspired me to put in my set on friday.
— franchise Sep 3, 05:27 PM
Brentwood!!! Maximum Respect!
— Spick Rick Sep 3, 08:12 PM
This must be my least favorite EPMD song ever. I’ll revoke your blogging license cuz your choice is invalid.
— Mr Mays Sep 3, 09:00 PM
“The crew is kind of one of those strange anomalies for me where I respect what they did fully, but it just doesn’t get me amped like other stuff of the era.”
That’s along the lines of what I thought to say… Never owned an EPMD record or checked for them, I was more into Ra, RunDMC and so and so forth. When this track hit in 92, my friend in high school was amped. Mostly because his cousin was Parrish and I think the group had some time off before they dropped The Crossover. At the time I thought CMB was an easy target even though they were an extra wack rNb group that blew up because of New Jack City.
— Jay B Sep 4, 03:19 AM
I remember a football captain in high school wanting to sell me an EPMD tape, but I couldn’t stomach the sub-par rapping.
— sankofa Sep 4, 09:38 AM
After actually buying that Onassis record I lost interest entirely in Erick et al…
— J-Mass Sep 4, 10:31 AM
I always thought EPMD worked best as a singles group. Throw on any of theirs hits in an oldschool set and people go “oh shit! I like that group but never play them” so these kinds of reactions work to a DJ’s advantage.
— Sach Sep 4, 11:41 AM
i thought color me badd sang the hook. and epmd was being kind of subversive, using a big pop act to satisfy the label on a song that wouldn’t play on pop radio. maybe i just misunderstood it, since i was like 12. anybody know?
— gl Sep 4, 02:34 PM
Once I got my head around “Crossover”, EPMD was my faveorite rap group. Business Never Personal, the album the track comes from, is super funky and gritty, like an anti-pop paul’s boutique. Hard as hell!
— b-chilla Sep 5, 04:47 AM
“This must be my least favorite EPMD song ever.” Yeah, I thought this was a really odd choice for a released single. The chorus was really dull. It definitely wasn’t Head-Banger or Rampage.
— Vee Sep 5, 11:14 AM
Great song !
TY for this one.
— היפ הופ Sep 6, 05:24 PM
Are the people saying they don’t like this song doing some kind of ironic thing that’s way over my head? Everyone knows this is the greatest song ever.
— Tray Sep 6, 07:41 PM
Still one of my all-time favorite songs. Not just from EPMD, not just from 1992, ever. I believe this song was even the official anthem for the HardC.O.R.E. e-zine back in the day. Ahh memories. I still mark out every time this song comes on XM.
— DJ Flash Sep 8, 05:57 AM